The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 59: Obligations to God (2024)

Episode Date: February 28, 2024

As we read Numbers 8-9, Deuteronomy 8, and Psalm 93, Fr. Mike reflects on how the Israelites were expected to celebrate Passover in all circumstances, learned to trust that God would lead them to where they needed to go, and needed to remember God in times of abundance as well as darkness. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. This is day 59. And so we will be reading two chapters from Numbers. It's Numbers chapter eight and chapter nine, as well as Deuteronomy chapter eight, just the one in Deuteronomy. And we'll be praying through Psalm

93. As always, I'm reading from the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition, and I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. You can get that at ascensionpress.com or wherever Bibles are sold. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. And if you haven't, one last thing, if you haven't yet subscribed to this podcast app or rated it or whatever, please do that. If you want to give it a good review, that's great.

If you want to give it a bad review, that's also great because if that is your opinion, then you don't have to keep it to yourself. As I said, today is day 59. We're reading chapters 8 and 9 of Numbers, chapter 8 of Deuteronomy, praying Psalm 93. Numbers chapter 8, the seven lamps. Now the Lord said to Moses, say to Aaron, when you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand. And Aaron did so. He set up its lamps to give light in front of the lampstand as the Lord commanded Moses. And this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold.

From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work, according to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses. So he made the lampstand. The Levites' consecration and service. And the Lord said to Moses, Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel and cleanse them. And thus shall you do to them to cleanse them. Sprinkle the water of expiation upon them and let them go with a razor over all their body and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. Then let them take a young bull, and its cereal offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another bull for a sin offering, and you shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting, and assemble the whole congregation of the sons of

Israel. When you present the Levites before the Lord, the sons of Israel shall lay their hands upon the Levites, and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering to the Lord, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites. And you shall cause the Levites to attend Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as a wave offering to the Lord. Thus shall you separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. And after that, the Levites shall go into due service at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a wave offering. For they are wholly given to me from among the sons of Israel. Instead of all that opened the womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel, I have taken them for myself. For all the firstborn among the sons of Israel are mine, both of man and of

beast. On the day that I slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated them for myself. And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel. And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the sons of Israel to do the service for the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the sons of Israel that there may be no plague among the sons of Israel in case the sons of Israel should come near the sanctuary. Thus did Moses and Aaron in all the congregation of the sons of Israel should come near the sanctuary. Thus did Moses and Aaron, in all the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the Levites,

according to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the sons of Israel did to them. And the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes. And Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord. And Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. And after that,

the Levites went in to do the service in the tent of meetingonement for them to cleanse them. And after that, the Levites went in to do the service in the tent of meeting in attendance upon Aaron and his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them. And the Lord said to Moses, this is what pertains to the Levites. From 25 years old and upward, they shall go in to perform the work in the service of the tent of meeting. And from the age of 50 years, they shall withdraw from the work of the service and serve no more, but minister to their brethren in the tent of meeting to keep the charge, and they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties. Chapter 9. The Passover kept at Sinai. And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

Let the sons of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month in the evening you shall keep it at its appointed time. According to all its statutes and all its ordinances you shall keep it. So Moses told. According to all its statutes and all its ordinances, you shall keep it. So Moses told the sons of Israel that they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover in the first month on the 14th day of the month in the evening in the wilderness of Sinai.

According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did. And there were certain men who were unclean through touching the dead body of a man so that they could not keep the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. And those men said to him, we are unclean through touching the dead body of a man. Why are we kept from offering the Lord's offering at its appointed time among the sons of Israel? And Moses said to them, wait, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.

The Lord said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel, If any man of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body or is afar off on a journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the Lord. In the second month, on the fourteenth day in the evening, they shall keep it, they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it, according to all that the statute for the Passover they shall keep it. But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, yet refrains from keeping the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people, because he did not offer the Lord's offering at its

appointed time. That man shall bear his sin. And if a stranger sojourns among you and will keep the Passover to the Lord according to the statute of the Passover and according to its ordinance, so shall he do. You shall have one statute both for the sojourner and for the native. The Cloud and the Fire On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. So it was continually. The cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the

cloud was taken up from over the tent, after that the sons of Israel set out. And in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel encamped. At the command of the Lord, the sons of Israel set out. And at the command of the Lord, they encamped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in the camp. Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days,

the sons of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord, they remained in camp. Then according to the command of the Lord, they set out. And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, and when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they set out. Or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud was taken up, they set out. Whether it was two days or a month or a longer time that the cloud continued over the tabernacle abiding there, the sons of Israel remained in camp and did not set out. But when it was taken up, they set out. At the command of the

Lord they encamped, and at the command of the Lord they encamped, and at the command of the Lord they set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord, by Moses. The Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 8. A Warning Not to Forget God. Moses continued, All the commandment which I command you this day you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

And he humbled you, and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything which proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out upon you, and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land,

a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Take heed, lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes, which I command you this day. Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built excellent houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all you have

is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do good to you in the end. Beware, lest you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. You shall remember the Lord your God,

for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day. And if you forget the Lord your God, and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you this day that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. Psalm 93, the majesty of God's rule.

The Lord reigns. He is robed in majesty. The Lord is robed. He is girded with strength. Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved. Your throne is established from of old. shall never be moved. Your throne is established from of old. You are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lifted up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty. Your decrees are very sure. Holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore. Father in heaven, we thank you and give you praise. Thank you so much for your word and thank you so much for your guidance

because Lord, without you, we're lost. Without your light, you to illumine the way, to light our path, your word, O Lord, is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path. Your word, oh Lord, is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path. Help us, Lord, to trust in your light. Help us to trust in the guidance that you give us. Help us to trust in your word because, Lord, we can hear your word and dismiss it. We can hear your word and forget it. We can even see your great works, Lord, and we can forget them and we can forget you. Help us never, ever to forget.

Help us always to see where you are in our lives, and always to hear your voice in our lives, and help us to always follow you wherever you lead, no matter what. God, let that be our prayer today. Help us to follow you where you lead, no matter what. And we make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Just a quick reminder, book of Numbers and the book of Deuteronomy, just our context here. Remember that the book of Numbers, it reminded us today in chapter nine, that this is now 13 months, a short 13 months after the people of Israel have been set free from slavery in Egypt. So they are new to all of this. They're new to this freedom. They're new to worship in the wilderness. They're new to trusting in the Lord. This is so important for us to understand. And in Deuteronomy, this is after the 38 years of wandering in the wilderness, right? This is after 40 years now of being free. And they're about, this is Moses' last speech as he's about to die and be taken to the Lord. And then Joshua is going to lead the people of Israel across the Jordan River and conquer the promised land.

And so keep that in mind. So when we're reading from Numbers, and what we hear in Numbers is about the gold lampstand being made. We hear about the law of the Passover and Levite's consecration and service. And we hear about the cloud and the fire. Remember, this is all preparing the people of Israel for this life in the wilderness and life after the wilderness. So Deuteronomy is going to be like, okay, after all of this, here's what we got before you go into the place of freedom. You went to the promised land. So a couple of quick things. One is it's so important. Um, let's just highlight the chapter nine in book of numbers for one moment, two things

in numbers, chapter nine. One is that the Lord God in Exodus, he established the Passover as a perpetual institution. That's what it says as a perpetual institution, you're going to have this Passover, this, this ritual where there's, you offer this lamb and sacrifice, you roast its flesh with bitter herbs and you roast its flesh with bitter herbs and you eat its flesh with loin skirt and unleavened bread. This is going to happen every single year on the first month in the 14th day of the month. That's when that's going to happen. And the question comes up, well, wait, there's some people here who are unclean. Are they exempt from this? Are there people who are, who are, they're traveling? They're not here with

us. Are they exempt from this kind of worship that God is asking? And Moses says, I'm going to consult the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, no, basically you shall participate. You shall participate fully in the Passover because this is an this, this way of worshiping is an obligation that even coming into contact with a dead body, which would make you ritually unclean, or even being on a journey doesn't dispense you from. And that's something so powerful for us to understand. In fact, it says the person who dispenses themselves, right? The person who excuses themselves from this kind of worship from this Passover meal is cut meal is cut off from the covenant, cut off from the people of God. And this is one of

the things we know, right? That we recognize is that Jesus Christ at the last supper, he says, okay, this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant. Do this in memory of me. And so we recognize that there might be some things that are preventing us from attending mass. But if it's, if we elect to stay away from mass, then we have essentially cut ourselves off from the people of God. That's one of the, the, the depths of the revelation of the new new Testament about how the Passover was a foreshadowing of the true gift of the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, which is Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. And just like the Passover, you were not exempt just because you were traveling or some other reason. If you exempted yourself, you dispensed yourself,

you were cut off. So too, if we dispense ourselves from this true and living worship, worshiping the Lord in spirit and truth in the Eucharist, then we are cutting ourselves off. One last note in chapter nine, before we jumped in numbers and one note there too, the cloud and the fire, what an incredible image for trusting in the Lord. And remember, this is numbers. This is just 13 months after the people of Israel have been set free from slavery. They're being taught how to trust in God. And so while the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud is over the tabernacle, you stay here, whether it's for a day or two days or a longer time. And when it moves, then we move. And there's something so powerful about that knowledge of that's what we're called to do as well in our lives is, okay, Lord, I'll move when

you call me to move. And if you don't call me to move, I'm going to stay put. There's something so powerful about trusting the Lord. A last note, just because Deuteronomy chapter eight is worth reading again and again. Again, context, numbers, 13 months after, set free from slavery. Deuteronomy, 40 years after, 38 years, essentially, after Numbers. And what does Moses say? He says that, remember, you shall remember all the ways which the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness. Why? That he might humble you, testing you to know what is in your heart, whether he would keep his commandments or not.

Now, God's not testing because he doesn't know. He's testing to reveal to the people, okay, this is the truth about me. And this is, oh man, this is training. Realize this. They're about to go into the promised land. They're going to have to fight. And they're also going to be surrounded by people who, um, don't believe what they believe. And also they're going to be blessed and they're going to have so much abundance. And so here's God saying, okay, you were tested and trained in the wilderness to trust me and to keep my commandments. When you go into the promised land, please embrace those commandments. You're not like them. You've been set apart. You're mine. You're my beloved possession. You're my firstborn. And lastly,

I'm going to bless you so exceedingly that you're going to be tempted to forget me. And this is something that's so powerful for all of us to realize, is that oftentimes we think that we forget God in the dark, and that's possibly true. But I know too often we forget God in the sunny days. We forget God when we're abundantly blessed. We forget God when everything is going well because then we don't need him. I can do without him because I did this and I'm safe and I'm secure and I have enough. And that's the temptation that Deuteronomy chapter 8 highlights and says, when you have so much, you will be tempted to say, this is what I've done. This is the work of my hands and I do not need to follow the Lord.

And Moses says, when you come to that day, please, please know, know that it was God's faithfulness. And so that's my invitation and my prayer today too. I will move when God asks me to move and I'll stay when he asks me to stay, but also in times of scarcity and in times of abundance, to remember all that the Lord has done. What an incredible gift.

You guys, we are rounding out the 50s. Tomorrow is day 60, so what an incredible thing. That's three, sorry, that's two months. I don't even know math and calendars, how they work. But this is remarkable. These last 60 days, 59 days, we've been praying for each other. We've been listening to God's word

and we will not stop praying for each other. I will not stop praying for you. We will not stop listening to God's word so he can continue to teach us what is in his heart and so our hearts can be like his heart. I'm praying for you. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.